HELENA — Steve Austin clutched a single red rose wrapped in cellophane Friday as he entered the Capitol rotunda to say goodbye to a woman who had shown acts of kindness to he and his family throughout his life.

Austin said, as his lip quivered, that the last time he saw Judy Martz, the former GOP governor who died Monday in Butte after a battle with pancreatic cancer, was in a grocery store.

“She saw me from a distance and had a smile on her face and she offered me a big hug,” he said. “That’s just the kind of person she was.”

Austin, who works for the Department of Revenue, said Martz had offered the family her car to take him to Salt Lake City for medical treatment. He said they never had to take her up on that gesture.

Austin was among a steady stream of people who came to honor Martz, 74, as she lie in state as members of the Montana Highway Patrol stood rapt near a heart-shaped urn containing her ashes. A portrait was also displayed and framed by the U.S and Montana State flag.

A memorial service will be 11 a.m. Saturday at the Butte Civic Center. The service will be led by Martz's nephew, Rob Crippen.

Martz was the state’s first and only female governor and served 2001-2005. She had also been a member of the U.S. Olympic Speed Skating Team at the 1964 Winter Games.

Gov. Steve Bullock, in issuing a proclamation to have flags in the state flown at half-staff in honor of Martz, said she would not only be remembered as a trailblazer, but for her spiritual enthusiasm.

One lady in the rotunda kissed her fingers as she pressed them to her lips and placed them on the urn.

“God bless her. God bless her,” the woman said.

Several people wore turtle pins, a Martz favorite.

Former Gov. Judy Martz(Photo: File)

Martz’s daughter, Stacey Boomer, said her mother was a person who put others before self, and often family.

“She was always stopping to help people we didn’t know,” she said. “And I would say ‘What about us?’”

She said she would tease her mother by saying “get your cape on, superstar.”

Survivors also include husband Harry and son Justin.

Boomer said most of the comments people made to her about her mother were on how she loved Montana and was a great lady.